Tuesday, September 27, 2005

Judge looks for links in credit card case

A judge has asked Visa and MasterCard to disclose details about their relationship with CardSystems Solutions, the payment processor that was the subject of a high-profile data security breach.

The information, such as contracts between the companies, should help determine whether the credit card companies have responsibility under California law to notify consumers whose personal details was exposed in the CardSystems breach, San Francisco Superior Court Judge Richard Kramer said Tuesday during a court hearing here.

Visa, MasterCard, Merrick Bank and CardSystems were sued in June on behalf of California credit card holders and card-accepting merchants. The suit seeks to test a state law that requires consumer notification after personal information stored on computers is lost, stolen or breached.

On Friday, Kramer denied a request for a preliminary injunction that would have required the credit card companies to tell individual California credit card holders that their account information was exposed in the CardSystems breach.